Bonds ribs Pendleton on interrupting MVP run

Published 4:00 am, Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Barry Bonds has seven MVP awards and could have more. Terry Pendleton is one reason he doesn't.

"He gives me a hard time about it," said Pendleton, Atlanta's hitting coach. "He keeps asking me when I'm going to give him his plaque. But it's in the Braves' Hall of Fame. That was another part of my life."

In 1991, in one of the closest MVP races, Pendleton of the Braves edged Bonds of the Pirates 274 to 259 in points and received 12 first-place votes to Bonds' 10. It was Pendleton's only MVP award. Bonds won it the year before and two years after.

Just for the heck of it, Bonds won another four times in the 2000s, consecutively -- after Giants teammate Jeff Kent won it in 2000, another close call.

"I know he had the talent to do that, no doubt," said Pendleton, who hit .319 with 22 homers and 86 RBIs in his MVP year. Bonds checked in at .292, 25 and 116. "He won seven and could've won eight or more."

The Braves entered the Bonds Watch on Monday, and Pendleton said Hank Aaron's old team has no desire to let Bonds break the record against it.

"We don't want to be the team to give up anything, whether it's the homers record to Barry Bonds or a solo homer by Albert Pujols last night," Pendleton said. "We're just trying to do what we always do, keep him (Bonds) in the park and off the bases."

Asked about Aaron's desire not to be on hand the day the record is broken, Pendleton said, "I try to stay as far away from that as I can so I don't have to answer that question."

Coolbaugh's teammates: Pitchers Steve Kline and Matt Morris were teammates of Mike Coolbaugh (on the 2002 Cardinals), who died Sunday after being struck by a foul ball as he was coaching first base in a minor-league game.

"We used to talk while riding buses in Florida in spring training," Kline said. "I remember he got called up, and I was really happy for him. He was a nice guy. This is a tragedy. It makes you want to go home and hug your kids. You never know."

Kline suggested moving the coaches' boxes farther back and raising the netting in front of crowds "so fans don't get whacked. It puts in perspective how hard the ball can come at you."

Briefly: Kimberly Bell, Bonds' alleged former girlfriend, said she will discuss the couple's relationship in the November issue of Playboy magazine. Bell reportedly is part of the government's perjury investigation of Bonds. The Playboy article will be accompanied by a nude pictorial of Bell. ... The Giants signed one of their three first-round draft picks, pitcher Tim Alderson of Horizon High in Scottsdale, Ariz., who received a signing bonus just shy of $1.3 million and reported Monday to the Giants' rookie-league team in Arizona. Alderson was taken 22nd overall in last month's draft.